


The Cat Problem

by AnniereadsStuff



Series: Writing something everyday [6]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Law is grumpy, M/M, Oblivious Monkey D. Luffy, Pining Trafalgar D. Water Law, They Are Idiots, Trafalgar D. Water Law is bad at feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28089813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnniereadsStuff/pseuds/AnniereadsStuff
Summary: Law feels something is wrong as soon as he enters their shared apartment. Luffy fails to see the problem.Also known as, Luffy brings home a stray cat and dotes on it and Law is totally not jealous. At all
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Series: Writing something everyday [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050545
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	The Cat Problem

Law knew something was wrong the moment the door fell shut behind him. He could feel it in his bones. Also, Luffy hadn’t stuck his head fron the kitchen to greet him with that smile, that seemed way too big and still miraculously fit perfectly on Luffy’s face. Luffy hadn’t even screamed out a greeting, like he did, when he had his head stuck in the refrigerator and hoped Law wouldn’t notice. Now there was no sign of Luffy at all.

Except from the gentle murmuring coming from the boys bedroom.

Law put his backpack down on the couch, and made his way to knock at Luffy’s door. Maybe something had happened? That would explain Luffy’s uncharacteristic absence from the kitchen. At this time of the day, Luffy was normally waiting impatiently for Law to get home to eat dinner together. Law had once told Luffy there was no need to wait for him, but Luffy insisted that, because of their schedules, dinner was the only meal they could reasonably eat together and so they should. And while he was right, Luffy had a lot of morning classes, while Law was either in the university or a laboratory from lunch to dinner time, Law also knew that it was like self-inflicted punishment for Luffy. All that delicious, unguarded food and he had to wait to eat it.

So usually, after his last class of the day, Law hurried home, because an impatient, hungry Luffy was very exhausting to deal with. And since Luffy was banned from the oven (he also burned the apartment down, the first week after he moved in) and Law usually wasn’t in a mood to cook after a long day of classes, they had to order take out. Delivery times were like Luffy’s personal hell.

Luffy opened the door way too fast - Law was sure one day the hinges would break - and smiled at him with the same bright smile he always had. So, nothing bad had happened. Which only made the situation more confusing.

„Oh Torao, you’re back already“, Luffy said, and then craned his head in an effort to look at the clock. Law was sure this would hurt a normal human, but sometimes he was convinced Luffy’s bones were made of rubber. There was no other logical explanation for the boys weird flexibility.

„Yeah, it’s dinner time. I thought you might be hungry“, Law answered, when it became apparent that Luffy wasn’t able to see the clock, no matter how much he tried to.

„I need to introduce you to someone“, Luffy exclaimed, instead of reacting to anything Law just told him. That was strange enough. Usually mentioning food was all it took to get Luffy’s undivided attention. Now Luffy grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him into his room and to the bed. He very excitedly gestured to the little creature sleeping on top of the bed, like it had any right to be there.

„What is that?“, Law asked, cause he really couldn’t believe his eyes. Maybe the combination of way too many classes, not enough sleep and an unhealthy amount of coffee finally did get to his head and now his eyes were deceiving him.

„That’s Kotatsu! Ace named him, when I send his picture to our group chat. I found him on my way home near a dumpster. Can you believe someone put him out in the cold like that?“

„Ace named it after a Japanese table?“ Which wasn’t the most pressing matter here, not at all. But it was the only thing Law’s brain could currently come up with. So, Luffy had brought home a stray kitten. It did look cute, he could admit that much. But really, a cat wasn’t what he wanted to deal with right now.

„It’s a cool name, don’t you think?“, Luffy asked excitedly and Law realized in that moment that Luffy planned on keeping the kitten. In their apartment, which didn’t allow any kind of pets at all.

„We won’t keep it. Smoker will kick both of our asses“, he argued, because really neither Luffy nor himself were fit to take care of a pet. And Smoker would kick their asses, and probably end their lease. Even with them sharing rent, they wouldn’t be able to afford a new apartment this close to their university.

„I told Smoker already. He says we can keep him, if he stays in our apartment only“, Luffy told him and Law realized that Luffy had already made that decision. Without him, again. He wouldn’t take it lying down.

„Is it even clean? You said you picked it up from the street. You need someone to check on it, at least!“

„Kotatsu is a he. And I thought you could check on him. You are a doctor.“

„I’m a medical student. That’s still some ways of from a real doctor. And I’m specialized in humans. You need a veterinarian.“ How this argument had turned from _We can’t keep it_ to _At least take proper care of it_ Law didn’t know. But he was to tired to continue arguing with Luffy, who was sitting next to the cat on the bed and petted it carefully. (It was awfully thin, and probably wouldn’t make it trough the winter if Luffy had left it outside.) So he stormed out of Luffy’s bedroom and into his own, slamming his door shut, letting himself fall face first on the bed. The argument was over, if Luffy wanted to keep the cat, he would have to take care of it on his own.

A few minutes later there was a light knock on his door, followed by Luffy informing him, that Sanji had agreed to take him and the cat to the closest vet. Law couldn’t care less so he didn’t answer. When he heard Luffy leaving he made his way to the kitchen for a quick snack, before he shut himself into his room again.

When Luffy came back he knocked at the door again, but Law still didn’t want to answer. So instead, Luffy told him everything through the door. The cat was underweight, but otherwise fine, he got her some shots to prevent the most common things. Sanji also thought he was cute, but agreed with Law that Kotatsu was a weird name. They went cat food shopping on their way home and Luffy got himself some take out and complained that he wasn’t allowed to eat it in Sanji’s car. It was their normal evening routine, just with a door in the way, and maybe, Law thought, he could get used to the cat.

*

He absolutly couldn’t get used to the cat.

„Luffy, come here and get rid of this nuisance!“, he yelled and then pointed accusingly at his own bed, when Luffy came running to see the problem. His bed, which was currently occupied by Luffy’s cat. He probably wouldn’t have been to bothered by it, if he hadn’t want to sleep. He needed to be in the laboratory by 6 a.m. tomorrow, so this wasn’t negotiable.

„Aw, look, isn’t he cute?“, Luffy asked, instead of helping and Law could feel his patience thinning. When Luffy ran to get his phone and then took photos of the cat from every possible angle, Law lost it completely.

„Get the damn thing of my bad, before I kick it!“

„Kotatsu isn’t a thing. And you can’t kick him!“, Luffy argued sounding scandalized. It was just a cat, one that got really fat, considering it has only been living with them for two weeks. It would be fine, Law wouldn’t even throw it out of the room, just kick him from the bed. And he wasn’t willing to argue about this like they argued about everything else concerning the damn cat.

(„He doesn’t need that much food, it’ll just block the kitchen.“ - „The vet says he needs a lot of food. I can store some in my room.“)

„I will kick him, if you don’t get him off of my bed immediately!“, Law threatened once again and took a step to the bed for good measure. Which prompted Luffy to stop taking photos and to stand between Law and his own bed, to shield the cat.

„I can’t. Look how cute he is when he sleeps!“, Luffy exclaimed and then seemed to think about something very shortly, „You could always sleep on the couch.“

Law wanted to hit Luffy across the head for that. He paid rent, he was entitled to his room and by extension his bed. He wouldn’t even fit on the couch! Also, the couch was a very old thing, that already was in the apartment when Luffy and Law first decided to rent it. You could feel some of the springs, if you sat on it the wrong way. Law refused to sleep on it. Luffy must have seen that in his expression.

„Okay, you can have my bed and I will sleep on the couch.“

„No way, that thing wasn’t made to be slept on and you know it.“

„Alright, we both sleep in my bed then!“

The couch it was.

The next morning, when Law rose way too early, with a back pain that would stay the entire day and went to his room to get his backpack, he realized that sleeping in the couch was unnecessary after all. Some time in the night the cat must have abandoned his bed to go somewhere else. A quick glance into Luffy’s room confirmed that, indeed, the cat was sleeping on top of Luffy’s naked chest. When it heard the door, it rose his head to meet Law’s eyes for a second. As if to say it had won.

*

„What’s the problem?“, Law wondered sending all three of his friends a look that hopefully accurately portrayed how annoyed he was with them. It was Wednesday and that usually included getting pizza with Luffy after his classes and watching some trashy comedy movie. (Not that that had worked out the past few weeks, Luffy was too occupied with the cat to care about the movie and by the time Luffy remembered to eat, the pizza was cold.) Instead he was sitting in some coffeeshop with Shachi, Penguin and Bepo all looking like they were about to burst.

„Why didn’t you tell us about the cat?“, Shachi asked accusingly and Law stifled a groan. Now that damn cat took over this part of his life, too.

„Why? Do you want it?“, he asked not entirely without hope, to finally get the thing out of his life. Not that Luffy would ever allow that. But it couldn’t hurt to try.

„Ah I see the problem now“, Shachi exclaimed more in Penguin’s directions than in Law’s and Bepo started looking so uncomfortable, that Law was thinking about just leaving now. Not that it had much sense, at least Penguin could catch him, if he really wanted to.

„So, enlighten me“, he said instead and really wished he hadn’t.

„You’re jealous“, Shachi said, like it was the obvious conclusion. Penguin tried and failed to stifle his laugh and instead went with masking it as a cough. As if Law hadn’t known him for thirteen years already. That was ridiculous. Kotatsu was just a cat, no need to be jealous of him.

„I’m not jealous. I would just like to be able to sleep in my own bed.“

„Sure, whatever you say“, Shachi agreed sarcastically and Law decided, he needed new friends. One wouldn’t believe him, one openly laughed at him and Bepo was well too timid to disagree with them now. Maybe Bepo could stay. But Shachi and Penguin would get replaced and maybe he would throw Luffy into that, too.

„Come on, it’s so obvious. You usually love cats, they are your favorite animals“, Penguin started to argue and decided he couldn’t just let that stand.

„Wrong! My favorite animals are leopards.“

„Which are just bigger cats, really. You also have an unhealthy obsession with getting pictures of cute animals send to you, yet we haven’t seen even one of Kotatsu. You’re jealous because the cat has all of Luffy’s attention and you desperately want that.“

„What gave you that idea?“, Law asked, because really he couldn’t answer to any of the accusations Penguin just made. Damn, their long-standing friendship, he knew him too well.

„I actually have a power point“, Shachi answered, instead of Penguin and already pulled his laptop out of his backpack, „it’s titled ‚How Law has been pining for his roommate for two years‘ and it has pictures!“

That was just too much. Law threw what he thought was an appropriate sum for his coffee on the table and left the shop, without saying another word to anyone. Damn, all of them, he wouldn’t stand for that.

(„Dude, that was too soon“, Penguin reprimanded Shachi after Law fled, „You should have gone slower.“

„He’s been pining for so long, it’s painful“, Shachi justified himself.)

*

When he came back home, the apartment was dark and he could hear Luffy’s light snoring from his room. Hopefully the cat was there too and not lying on Law’s bed again. He made a detour through the kitchen on the way to his room, in hopes Luffy had ordered pizza without him and he would find some leftovers. (Not very likely, with Luffy being Luffy, but maybe he was in luck.)

Instead of opening the fridge, he collided with it face first, when he stumbled over something furry. The cat was really out to get him. But, instead of looking at him triumphantly like he expected it to, it just walked between his legs and meowed at him. So, it was hungry. The cat had the same stomach Luffy did.

He got it some cat food and listened to it purr while it ate. Okay, Luffy was right, he was really cute. Law supposed he could tolerate him, if Luffy insisted on keeping him.

Luffy stumbled into the kitchen, stopping at the door to first look at Law and then eye the cat, for a suspiciously long time. Finally he smiled, like he just figured out something complicated and joined Law in the kitchen, leaning against the wall.

„So Nami was wrong“, Luffy said, obviously not seeing the need to explain further.

„What did Nami say?“

„That you didn’t like Kotatsu because you were jealous, because you want all of my attention for yourself. But she was wrong, you like Kotatsu now“, Luffy explained sounding entirely too happy for the words coming out of his mouth. Why did Nami say the exact same thing his friends did? (Because she probably put them up to it.)

Law froze, hoping to get this over with quickly. There was no need for Luffy to know about his ridiculous crush.

„It’s a bit sad, I was hoping you really were jealous. That would have been nice“, Luffy continued, not letting the topic drop and Law felt they entered dangerous waters. Anything he said could give him away and while Luffy wasn’t the fastest on the uptake, if he told Nami - or worse, Nico Robin - Law wouldn’t be able to save his dignity.

„You want me to suffer that badly?“ He decided that was save. No one could possibly deduce something out of his usual sarcasm, that wasn’t already wildly known. And Luffy didn’t deduce anything out of it. He still somehow managed to make it worse.

„No, because if you were jealous of Kotatsu, it would have been the same I was jealous of Kid when you started spending more time with him. It would have evened it out.“ And that made no sense, but also Law felt the need to clarify that he never ‚spend more time‘ with Kid.

„It didn’t spend time with Kid. The laboratory for dissecting dead people and the mechanical institute share a canteen. I saw him at lunch against my will.“

„You still saw him more than me and I didn’t like that. You not liking Kotatsu for that reason would have been the same.“

And that made no sense at all. Law was always actively trying to avoid Kid, whereas Luffy adored Kotatsu, so Law had any reason to feel jealous. But also, Luffy was jealous of Kid and that was news, he wasn’t willing to just ignore.

„What do you mean when you said you were jealous of Kid?“

„Stupid Torao“, Luffy said, „why is someone jealous. Because someone else has something you want. And Kid had you!“

Law would argue again, that Kid hadn’t had him - he avoided Kid as much as possible during that time - but he was way more focused on the other part of Luffy’s confession. They needed to have a long talk about this.

*

Two days later, when Luffy and Law had settled the situation with Kid and the situation with the cat, and also had shared quite a few kisses, Law decided to sent a text to Shachi.

_You were right about the cat. We settled it. No more need for your power point._

Shashi complained to Penguin about all his wasted time for weeks.


End file.
